The league's first openly gay player, St. Louis Rams rookie Michael Sam, has changed according to his college roommate.
Eric Waters, a former tight end at the University of Missouri, told The Pittsburgh Tribune that he thinks his former roommate has changed after all the publicity he got for coming out.
He said of Sam: "He is a nice guy, but I will say the truth: A little bit of him has changed. It is really not my situation to speculate at this point, but he is not the same Michael Sam anymore."
Sam, of course, has gotten national publicity after he came out as gay. His stock even rose when the Rams drafted him in the seventh round of the draft.
Waters himself applied for the NFL draft but had no takers. He is currently trying it out in the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.
Pressed to elaborate further on what has changed with Sam, Waters said: "Just the way he acts and carries himself. I was watching the NFL Network the other day and I think it was Marshall Faulk who said that he keeps referring to himself in the third person as Michael Sam this, Michael Sam that. That's not the same guy we knew back when we were living together. He is not the same fun-loving, joking guy that really didn't care about stuff like publicity."
Waters was roommates with Sam and linebacker Eric Beisel last year. He says he has lost his communication with Sam.
"I don't know if that is because he is more focused on the fame and the opportunity he has now or whatever," Waters said.
But he is quick to clarify that he has no issues with Sam being gay. He added that the only thing that matters to him is playing football. "We had a common denominator: We were brought to the same university because we had the ability to play football. That's all that matters."
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